Cylinders and rollers in printing machines will become soiled upon use with accumulated print residues, such as paper dust, hardened printing ink, or other dirt. It is customary to clean the cylinders or rollers by washing with a cleaning fluid. Conventional cleaning fluids include water or solvents containing hydrocarbons and vegetable-based washing agents.
Several devices for washing printing machine cylinders are known, such as, for example, those disclosed in EP 0 419 289 A2; EP 0 414 909 B1; DE 4,207,119 A1; and DE 4,230,567 A1. As disclosed in DE 4,207,119 A1 and DE 4,230,567 A1, for example, some printing machine cylinders have outer surfaces that include surface structures. The surface structures contain valleys, in which print residues may settle and are no longer susceptible to removal during routine washing. If these print residues are not removed, the printing quality of the printing machine may be adversely affected, particularly in the case of recto/verso printing. In such cases, it may become necessary to change the cylinder dressing or film, or even to replace the printing machine cylinder.